In the prior art, bottles and cans have been prepackaged in six-pack configurations by shrink films such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,217,874 to Potter, issued Nov. 16, 1965, in which the plastic sheet or tube which is shrink fitted to the six-pack includes finger grips or the like for the purpose of carrying that six-pack.
Another type of packaging for six-packs or other prearranged groupings of containers is by way of elastic bands with or without the additional expedient of elastic neck or container top engaging matrices shaped in accordance with the desired formation of the six-pack or other multiples of containers. Such an arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 19 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,714,756 of MacInnes et al, issued Feb. 6, 1973. This patent also illustrates suitable mechanism by which an elastic band may be placed around a group of containers to maintain that group in a predetermined multicontainer package shape. The additional neck engaging portion of the package is illustrated in FIG. 19 of MacInnes as including finger holes for the purpose of transporting the package from place to place.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a package banding structure for packages of multiple containers which include either two forms of container holding devices such as illustrated in the MacInnes patent or which are merely arranged in groups of six or twelve of the like and held only by the banding device around the vertical sides of the containers, the said elastic banding structure including an integral handle means of novel construction.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new and novel elastic banding structure for packaging groups of containers in which a handle means is integrally affixed to the banding device such that when the banding device is stretched, the handle will be in a relatively unstressed condition lying flat against the stretched elastic band.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more fully apparent with reference to the following specification and drawings which relate to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.